“Ariadna”

On her 2016 EP January Sun, Moscow-based producer Yana Kedrina (aka Kedr Livansky), layered grey-scale atmospheric electronics with disaffected, reverb-soaked Russian and English vocals. Her enthusiasm for 1990s electronic experimentalists lingered in the EP’s metallic detail. With “Ariadna,” the first single from Kedrina’s forthcoming full-length, things sound notably more bright and well-defined—thanks, in part, to her adoption of analog synths which became the backbone of her writing process for this album.

A key player in Moscow’s nascent dance-music scene, Kedrina notes the influence of late-Soviet electronic music and Western kraut and ambient greats like Neu! and Boards of Canada alongside the more ubiquitous mainstream pop of MTV. Those pop structures feel especially present on this airy track, even with its cool pacing and angular interludes. The title nods to Greek myth (specifically, one in which the goddess Ariadne helps Theseus slay a minotaur and navigate a labyrinth) and the song’s gently danceable electro has a soaring quality. Kedrina’s unusually droll vocals anchor the song, which simmers ambivalently between verses. But her skill lies in crafting this dreamy affectation from a pared-down palette, her synth melodies intersecting just-so to produce a pointed nostalgia.